Sunday, November 26, 2017

Rancho Murieta Autumn Classic: Friday Part 1

I have to split this day into two parts because Ted and I COMPLETED a Derby Friday night and that, my friends, deserves a post all of its own.

Ali had ridden Ellie to success in her 3' classes earlier in the week (and we actually cut the division short because she was being so good) and just hacked Ted. We changed the recipe for him a bit and are keeping his pro days super light.

So I kicked my day off on Friday with a flat class on Ellie. The division was large so they split the group into two classes....and even with the split it was pretty miserable. Lots of getting cut off and maybe breaking to the trot.....or not considering we placed third. Shhhhhh.

Elle and I bumbled around her first 2'6" round- I leaned into a line and she stopped. Coming out of the second course we pinned 8th which I was super pleased with.

The ring is long and narrow- the lines were set at 5 and a 6 across the diagonal. I like it for Teddy because he doesn't have time to get rolling/ super long and low. For Ellie it feels like we have to keep a ton of pace to keep ticking along. Very different rides!

So I jumped on Ted planning to use my 2'9" rounds as a warm up for the Derby. Keeping in mind that this was my lackadaisical thought process....my normal brain was very much noting that this was my third show at 2'9" ever. The above shot captures Ali and I walking to the ring- I was literally asking her if she was SURE Ted was going to be a good boy not having been schooled all week.

Spoiler alert- he was an AMAZING boy. Ted jumped like a FREAK, and played a little bit after the best fences. And landed his leads. I could not have asked for better courses on this beastie. First place in both rounds over fences. Shoot. Let's go Derby right?